Endangered Languages – The Yaaku Language in Kenya By Martin Mares The Republic of Kenya has been long considered as one of the most diverse and fascinating countries in Africa with its 49 distinct tribes using 69 languages according to the most recent analyses1 . The Yaaku people are one of these 49 tribes, but the situation of these indigenous hunter-gatherers and traditionally beekeepers seem to be unique and fascinating mainly due to their efforts to preserve their traditional language against all the odds. The Yaaku people are inhabitants of central Kenya, more specifically total number around 5000 Yaaku lives in the district called Laikipia. During the first half 20the century, the large number Yaaku people assimilated to the Maasai people because of the higher social prestige of pastoralist culture of the Maasai compared to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle practised by the Yaaku. For that reason, during the second half of the 20the century, the Yaaku cultural heritage suffered immensely, and a significant number of the Yaaku speakers gave up their language in favour of the Maa, which is the language of Maasai people. This unfortunate shift occurred after the British colonial forces left Kenya and because of Kenyan independence, the Yaaku suddenly lost their ancestral rights to the ownership of Mukogodo forest and its surroundings. The Yaaku elder Nkonge Saikong, fluent in the Yaaky and the English language, explains that the English language and national Swahili were no threats to the Yaaku in the 1960s, but it was the languages of Maasai and Samburu that eventually forced people to abandon the Yaaku due to the socioeconomic prestige of both tribes. In other words, during the British rule all tribes were equal in socioeconomic conditions, but under the sovereign Kenyan government, the Maasai usurped the privileged position due to their wealth-cattle2 . 1 People Profile – The Mukogodo of Kenya http://orvillejenkins.com/profiles/mukogodo.html 2 Wise Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCNHm9ZU5XY 1 According to anthropologist Lee Crock, the assimilation was not typically orchestrated by the stronger Maasai, but the Yaaku willingly gave up their lifestyle and language as well, since the majority of the Yakku felt inferior to Maasai because the Yakky did not own any cattle and therefore they were considered "Dorobo" (people without animals in the Maa language). Additionally, Cronk suggests that the Yaaku followed a historical pattern of the development towards the more efficient form of subsistence, which should be considered as the significant factor in the adoption of Maasai's pastoralist lifestyle along with additional elements of their culture which were seen at the time by the Yaaku as superior, including the Maa language.3 Thus, the newly formed independent Republic of Kenya in 1963 the Yaaku people had been portrayed as one of the Maasai tribes and officially labelled as Mukogodo Massai4. The recklessness of 1960s Kenyan governmental organisations has been especially evident in recognition of distinct indigenous people and 79 years old Yaaku activist Nkonge Saikong confesses that the Yaaku has approached the government countless times during his life and nothing has been done to help the Yaaku with the restoration of their language. Even though relationships with dominant tribes of Maasai and Samburu have been widely positive, another Yaaku elder Stephen Leriman warns against powerful political lobby of Maasais and Samburus that possibly acts against the Yaaku because of their interests in land ownership of the forest of Mukogodo. In other words, Leriman claims that Maasai and Samburu wants to use the forest as the water supply and pasture for their cattle in seasons of dry weather. However, the new constitution from 2011 bolstered rights of minorities and allowed the Yaaku to convince the government to protect the Mukogodo forest and therefore recognise the Yaaku people as the ethnic minority5. Leriman still thinks that it is not enough, but it gave the Yaaku a chance to look for support elsewhere. French 3 Cronk, Lee (2002) 'From true Dorobo to Mukogodo-Maasai: contested ethnicity in Kenya', Ethnology, 41(1), 27–49 4 Cronk, Lee (2002) 'From true Dorobo to Mukogodo-Maasai: contested ethnicity in Kenya', Ethnology, 41(1), 27–49, see also: People Profile – The Mukogodo of Kenya http://orvillejenkins.com/profiles/mukogodo.html 5 Glottolog http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/yaak1241 2 and British embassies agreed to donate 13,000 € and 29 000 £ respectively to support the revival of the Yaaku heritage, including their traditional Cushitic language6. Both Leriman and Saikong were among the first Yaaku that established the small museum of the Yaaku culture in 2003 a few miles from Dol Dol7. Nevertheless, Mannaseh Mantunge, the Yaaku tribal elder explains, why Yaaku's situation is still significantly more complicated compared to other Kenyan tribes, "Definitely we do not get anything from the government today, simply because they – in their positions give all to the Maasai people and they count that we are part of them.”8 Conversely, the Maasai tribes have never recognised the Yaaku people like the Maasai, despite profound assimilation of a vast number of the Yaaku, which implies that administrative decision to attach the Yaaku to the Maasai does not make sense per se. It is evident that preservation and possible restoration of the Yaaku language face everyday obstacles represented by never-ending haggling with Kenyan governmental organisation to recognise and support cultural heritage of the smallest tribes. A reluctance of Kenyan political organisation is partially caused by the willingness to support cultural heritage that can be turned into a profitable business in tourism, and because Yaaku people have merged to some extent with Maasai and Samburu that are supported massively by the Kenyan government, the hope for decent financial help for Yaaku slowly fades away. The resurrection of Yaaku cultural heritage is incredibly challenging without economic benefits from the Kenyan government, but the Yaaku people have decided to start their campaign and projects to revive their language, which is currently still classified as extinct by UNESCO9. The pivotal part of the Yaaku language and its possible revival might be the crucial element to reclaim the Yaaku sovereign identity as Mannaseh Montugne puts it, "It is very important to speak that language (Yaaku) so that we can identify ourselves as one of the ethnic communities in Kenya.”10 The Yaaku language is 6 Preserving the Yaaku language - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHeWS1LyCbA 7 Preserving the Yaaku language - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHeWS1LyCbA 8 Preserving the Yaaku language - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHeWS1LyCbA 9 Heine, Bernd & Brenzinger, Matthias (1988) 'Notes on the Mukogodo dialect of Maasai', Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 14, 97–131. 10 Preserving the Yaaku language - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHeWS1LyCbA 3 indeed not only a part of the Yaaku culture, but it is an essential element of their lifestyle and distinct ethnic origins compared to Maasai, which can be clearly demonstrated on significant differences within the vocabularies and further bolstered by the fact that the Yaaku belongs to East Cushitic languages, while the Maa belongs to East Nilotic group11. Maa Yaaku English osesen napax body emurt tocunu neck olgoo sheu neck erony kelege shoulder enkitikiti golgola armpit enkaina tike hand/fist enkeju miji leg oln guesi legei animal olkiteng ng’orpa bull enkine gooto goat A local primary school in Kuri Kuri has roughly 230 Yaaku students that can use only a small number of Yaaku vocabulary since they cannot use the language in its full form and therefore official census cannot count them as real Yaaku speakers.12 Moreover, the biggest issue seems to be the grammar of Yaaku, since the small number of fluent speakers are not capable of teaching others because of their high age and absent teaching skills. Hence, 85 years old Steven Leitiku is the only one teacher, who has full-fledged knowledge of Yaaku grammar and for this reason, he is fully committed to the cause of preservation of the Yaaku language. As Leitiku 11 Heine, Bernd (1974/75) 'Notes on the Yaaku language (Kenya)', Afrika und Übersee, 58(1), 27–61; 58(2), 119–138, see also: Mous, Maarten & Stoks, Hans & Blonk, Matthijs (2005) 'De laatste sprekers' [the last speakers], in Indigo, tijdschrift over inheemse volken [journal on indigenous peoples], pp. 9–13. 12 Wise Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCNHm9ZU5XY, Preserving the Yaaku language - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHeWS1LyCbA 4 explains, "there are only a few of us left, and I am the most fluent one in Yaaku"13. At the local school, Leitiku works mainly with young children and tries to teach them at least Yaaku vocabulary and pronunciation, though he also spends a significant amount of his free time outside the school teaching older Yaaku people advanced lessons in their language such as grammar or art of Yaaku conversation. However, the head teacher of local primary school Andrew Mokaya would like to improve current methods, and he claims that:" We need somebody to assist this remarkable man in writing down everything that he teaches in class so that we will have hard copies for other teachers"14 . It is evident that Mokaya is a realist and may very well know that Steven Leitiku will not be there forever and his death would undoubtedly cause tremendous obstacles in a revival of the Yaaku language. For this purpose, it is crucial that German linguist Matthias Brenzinger along with Bernd and Ingo Heine quite recently created a draft of Yaaku dictionary, which was an outcome of Brenzinger's productive fieldwork during the last 20 years in remote parts of central Kenya15. Eunice Sirankasio oversees distribution of the” Yankunte dictionary”, which is meant to encourage younger generations to learn their traditional language, though Sirankasio has remained sceptical about the use of the Yaaku language in the future because young Yaakus “Our language and culture are considered inferior to the Maasai, and that is why many children are not willing to learn it because they think it is of no use"16. At the same time, there are also young Yaakus that are more positive such as 14 years old Lilian Matonge, when she expresses her opinion: "I like my language (The Yaaku) because this is part of our culture”17. Alternatively, Dutch linguist Hans Stoks, who helped to find historical records of the Yaaku language suggests that the best possible 13 Preserving the Yaaku language - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHeWS1LyCbA 14 Preserving the Yaaku language - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHeWS1LyCbA 15 CALDi – Cente for African Language Diversity http://www.caldi.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/370/People/2014-09CV-Brenzinger.pdf 16 Daily Nation http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Only-seven-can-speak-dying-language/ 1056-873770-8b3k19/index.html 17 Preserving the Yaaku language - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHeWS1LyCbA 5 solution to restore the Yaaku language into fully functional modern version is to mix it with Maasai elements that can work well with within the Yaaku language. To this end, Stoks adds: “As a matter of fact the past generation of Yaaku speakers in the past two or three decades were already doing that. There is nothing wrong with mixing languages. It is done almost everywhere.”18 The most recent estimates from 2011 show us that the Yaaku was spoken only by fluent speakers, but the number in 2016 tells us that there should be currently ten fluent speakers of the Yaaku, despite the death of the women and fluent Yaaku speaker called “Naarutu” in 201219. Furthermore, children in Kuri Kuri primary school are currently having fifteen regular lessons of the Yaaku language each month. The conclusion seems to be clear – younger generations might steadily contribute to the revival of the Yaaku language, but it is necessary to admit that there is still a long way ahead. Henceforth is it crucial for linguists such as Matthias Brenzinger and Hans Stoks to continue their remarkable field work to support the Yaaku cause with solid scholarly underpinning and equally important is additional financial assistance that might help the Yaaku to establish more schools and therefore teach the language in considerably more efficient and influential way? 18 Kenya Forest Service http://www.kenyaforestservice.org/index.php? option=com_content&view=article&id=142:the-yaaku-people-of-mukogodo-forest-laikipiareclaim-their-language&catid=81&Itemid=538 19 Quartz Africa http://qz.com/786055/only-seven-people-in-the-world-speak-this-kenyan-tribes-languageyakunte-and-now-they-are-trying-to-save-it/ 6 Works Cited: Brenzinger, Matthias. Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations CALDi – Cente for African Language Diversity http://www.caldi.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/370/People/2014-09-CVBrenzinger.pdf Cronk, Lee (2002) 'From true Dorobo to Mukogodo-Maasai: contested ethnicity in Kenya', Ethnology, 41(1) Daily Nation http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Only-seven-can-speak-dying-language/1056-873770-8b3k19/ index.html Languages of Kenya https://www.ethnologue.com/language/mas Glottolog http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/yaak1241 Heine, Bernd & Brenzinger, Matthias (1988) 'Notes on the Mukogodo dialect of Maasai', Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 14, Heine, Bernd (1974/75) 'Notes on the Yaaku language (Kenya)', Afrika und Übersee, 58(1), 27–61; 58(2), Kenya Forest Service http://www.kenyaforestservice.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=142:theyaaku-people-of-mukogodo-forest-laikipia-reclaim-their-language&catid=81&Itemid=538 Mous, Maarten & Stoks, Hans & Blonk, Matthijs (2005) 'De laatste sprekers' [the last speakers], in Indigo, tijdschrift over inheemse volken [journal on indigenous peoples] Quartz Africa http://qz.com/786055/only-seven-people-in-the-world-speak-this-kenyan-tribes-language-yakunteand-now-they-are-trying-to-save-it/ People Profile – The Mukogodo of Kenya http://orvillejenkins.com/profiles/mukogodo.html Wise Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCNHm9ZU5XY 7